A Chehalis Fire Department truck is parked outside, while a Lewis County Fire District 6 truck is parked inside the Fire District 6 station on Jackson Highway in May.
After considering more than a dozen possible sites, the Chehalis city council agreed Monday to place an emergency fire station on Arkansas Way, between Walmart and Home Depot, and formally declared an emergency that assigns contracting authority to the city manager.
City staff, specifically City Manager Jill Anderson and Public Works Director Trent Lougheed have been in the process of analyzing 15 possible locations for an emergency fire station and after presenting the most promising three options, the council selected and are moving forward with preparing the city-owned site on Arkansas Way.
“In looking at all 15 sites, there is no ideal site. Each site has issues that we need to overcome. What we are doing now is looking over the lesser of the evils, shall we say,” said Lougheed when addressing the council regarding the emergency fire station location.
In late April Lewis County Fire District 6 Board of Commissioners voted to terminate the interlocal fire station sharing agreement with the Chehalis Fire Department giving the City of Chehalis until July 5 to find an emergency fire station location.
The City of Chehalis has been in the process of finding a new fire station since the old fire station, located at 455 NW Park Street, was deemed unsafe after asbestos was found. The Chehalis firefighters moved into LCFD6 station in August of 2018 and have been there, at 2123 Jackson Hwy., since then.
The reasons for the termination of the interlocal station sharing agreement are unclear. LCFD6 Board Chair Jim Martin stated in the letter that gave notice of the end of the agreement that he is looking forward to a “cooperative and seamless transition” as they wind down the current relationship between the two fire departments.
The city narrowed down the emergency fire station to three options including the Arkansas Way site near the Chehalis-Centralia Airport, Chehalis City Hall, and a vacant lot owned by Darigold on Main Street. The pros and cons of each site were presented to the council.
The criteria that were most important when analyzing an emergency fire station location included the safety of the firefighters, the ability to respond to emergency calls, the cost to prepare the site, the security of the equipment, and the ability to prepare the site before July 5, according to council agenda report.
“For the improvements that need to be done, we could actually start on them as early as tomorrow. Any other site where we have to lease from another property owner we do have to go through the lease negotiations,” Lougheed said Monday. “We do have a contractor that is willing and able to do all of the improvements as soon as we give them the nod to go forward. (This) is the most expeditious site that we can improve in order to meet that July 5 deadline.”
Lougheed met with contractors on Tuesday and the city is hoping to get started on marking and filling the site as soon as possible. Pacific Mobile Structures will need to be used as living quarters for the firefighters. Utilities — power, water, gas, sewer, internet and telephone access — are already available at the site. The site is already owned by the city, has multiple response routes, the site’s proximity to downtown meets Washington State Rating Bureau distance ratings and costs of improvements to the site can be paid utilizing the airport funds.
One con of the chosen site is that it’s in the floodplain.
“Hopefully with the flooding, the only danger would be in a flash flood situation where we wouldn’t have a lot of time to get out of there. Because of the flood authority, along with Lewis County and the advanced monitoring systems they have put in, we have a lot of warning in the event of a flood occurring,” said Chehalis Fire Chief Ken Cardinale.
Cardinale has also been the interim chief of Lewis County Fire District 6 since mid-2019.
The cost of the site, not including buildings provided by Pacific Mobile Structures, is about $70,000 for various site improvements including flashing fire station indicators and the pavement of a portion of the site including a driveway approach.
Anderson’s and Lougheed’s explanation of the pros and cons of each site at the city council meeting is available to view on the AV Capture All website under the City of Chehalis, WA.
Aside from the emergency fire station location, the City of Chehalis has been in the process of locating a new permanent fire station since August of 2018 when the previous, nearly 100-year-old, fire station had been deemed unsafe due to structural problems and asbestos. Anderson estimated that the emergency fire station could be in use for four to twelve months as the city continues to search for a permanent fire station.
